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For more parts in the mail today. Received the brake pads, hoses, and caliper rebuild kits. The calipers were fine. No evidence of leaking, but I figured why not run though them. It’s an easy job and rebuild kits are dirt cheap.

parts from yesterday. Tie rods and bushings, brake hub seals.

The patient (1 of 2)

First remove the piston. Little compressed air and it pops right out. Be careful, does not take much at all!

remove the outer dust boot/seal check for any pitting or rust. In my case no issues.

clean the bore

check the piston for putting or rust. If this has either. It’s junk. I’m my case, no issues.

rebuild kit. Sorry upside down pic.

lube the square edge seal in brake fluid, install.

install the dust boot/ seal on the piston like so.

fit the lip of the seal into the groove on the caliper. Make sure it’s seated all the way around. Then start to push the piston into the caliper. Rock it back and forth to get it past the square edge seal. I was able to do this by hand with a bit of force. Caliper piston tool can be used or large channel locks.. or a c clamp even. No need for a ton of force. You could damage the inner seal.

Compress the piston and double check the dust boot. The dust boot install is the hardest part of the job.

reinstall on the vehicle.

I rebuilt both calipers tonight and installed brake pads and hoses on both sides.

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I received the new 175lbs springs today and I got them installed. The alignment is completely fucked so I bought some toe plates and a digital camber/caster gauge. That should help get this thing dialed in nicely. I've aligned them manually, but it just takes so long. This should speed it up a bit. Also I've got a few other cars needing alignments so if it goes well, the tools will pay for themselves in no time.

Still waiting for weather seals. Still no quote from datsport, I've tried so many times. sigh...

The Datsport thing is weird. I know they are running quite a bit behind but I have been in contact with them a couple times this month through email. Granted that most of the time I have had to initiate the contact. Place my order for the wagon on the 7th, don't expect it to ship for another week or two.

Indeed. I assume you want a firmer spring rate? There are three things that increase a spring rate.

Coil diameter... the smaller the coil width, the stiffer it gets.

Wire diameter... the thicker the wire the stiffer it gets

Number of coils... the fewer the number of working coils the stiffer the spring rate.

Draker, if you take some careful measurements on both springs I can tell you their spring rate. Need the coil diameter outside to outside is fine, and the thickness of the wire. Looks like 4 1/2 coils on the Red and 3 1/2 on the Blue one.

Indeed. I assume you want a firmer spring rate? There are three things that increase a spring rate.

Coil diameter... the smaller the coil width, the stiffer it gets.

Wire diameter... the thicker the wire the stiffer it gets

Number of coils... the fewer the number of working coils the stiffer the spring rate.

Draker, if you take some careful measurements on both springs I can tell you their spring rate. Need the coil diameter outside to outside is fine, and the thickness of the wire. Looks like 4 1/2 coils on the Red and 3 1/2 on the Blue one.

Other way around, I want a softer rate. The blue is the new spring. I think I calculated the red at around 475lbs?

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Got it back in the air, checked all the fasteners to make sure they were tight. Found a few and got them tight. Found both wheels had play in the wheel bearings, so I got those tightened up as well. I gave it an eyeball alignment then broke out the new toys.

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I could use some turn plates to make adjusting caster a bit easier. So far I just dialed in the camber at -.3*. Wiki says -0.25* - 0 is the ideal range. That seems a bit light, so I bumped it down a little more.